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[******]

Really? Does it actually, or will it be listed, then not actually come out, like #2 was for six months!

Hey, your favourite panel of the book was the same as mine, that double punch was fucking cool.

McKelvie said he got word it would be out next week on his Twitter this morning.

[Kerny]

Batman and Robin #1
Batman Reborn part one: Domino Effect
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quitely

From the very first panel 'BOOM BOOM' spelt out in the very fire of the explosion creating the sound, you know you're in for something special with this comic. Grant Morrison achieves 3 things necessary for this comic to work in my opinion.
1) The great characterisation of Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne as Batman and Robin. Their interactions are beautiful, I love the antagonistic relationship between them, and that Dick is trying to reach out to Damian ("I'd have killed for a flying Batmobile when I was Robin") and Damian's staunch refusal to see himself as anything other than perfect ("If you're not up to it, stand aside Dick Grayson"). Their interactions really sell the book and drive home the 'AND Robin' part of the title.

2) Awesome new villains. Anyone can come to Batman with a fresh #1 and say 'Right, Joker/Two-Face/Riddler/Ivy/Scarecrow/Ra's al Ghul/etc but Morrison drops three new villains on us (people seem to forget the awesomely named 'Phosphorus Rex) with the promise of more to come in the 'Circus of Strange.' Pyg is a very interesting concept, a villain that goes around wanting to twist everything into his sick idea of perfection. If you created the character and then had to assign a hero to be his nemesis, it'd have to be Batman.

3) Batman and Robin being awesome. I don't know why, but my favourite panel in the whole comic is the double punch on Mr. Toad, it's a simple panel, but it evokes great memories of Adam West era Batman, which is looked down on these days, unfortunately. Batman threatening to drop Toad '300ft' was a great, simple interregation scene and the splash of Batman and Robin diving down with the Bat-Signal in the sky behind them? Well, that's just a great segue into the art portion of this review...

Frank Quitely... Is there anything to say? It's Frank FUCKING Quitely, while some may argue with his figures and faces, there is no denying he is one of the greatest storytellers working in comics today. If all comics artist had half of his ability to tell a story, we'd be living in a golden age of the medium.

A brilliant, explosive first issue that has me onboard for the forseeable future, even through the unfortunate Philip Tan issues. I'm really looking forward to seeing Dr. Hurt come back. I'm sorry to anyone that wanted any kool-aid, because I think I drank the whole lot up...

Story - 9
Art - 9.5
Overall - 9

Very nice review.

[KING King Impulse]

Really? Does it actually, or will it be listed, then not actually come out, like #2 was for six months!

From Phonogram's Twi**er (I understand that you don't like the word )

We're told that PG2.3 should be shipping next week. That's the 17th in the US and the 18th in the UK.

[Punchy]

[quote="King Impulse"][/quote]

I'll believe it when I see it!

[KING King Impulse]

I'll believe it when I see it!

I am an optimist!

[Starlord]

1. brought the score of the book down.
2. no one said those words specificly.

well I'm sorry, but fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

[SuperginraiX]

Oh, Batman and Robin, how I know you will ultimately disappoint me but how I desperately want you to be good.

This issue does a good job of showing Dick as Batman while at the same time showing why he really isn't Batman. I know that's odd and probably not what Morrison was going for (or maybe he was-- he thinks in eight dimensions) but it's how it reads. Dick seems more like he's playing at Batman and filling the costume for Bruce's eventual return (which, of course, is eventual and no one's lying to themselves about it). He's uncomfortable and has actual emotions and feelings that, once the cowl come off, make him seem like a more amateurish detective than the protege of Bruce Wayne.

Anyway, the book is filled with ackward lines. It's almost like Morrison is approaching this book from two different perspectives: there's whatever high end crap he's going to eventually pull off and then there's the dialogue straight from a Die Hard movie. Die Hard was great but never, ever analyze the dialogue because it doesn't actually fit most of the scenes. "Crime is doomed." spouted off by, apparently, Dick Grayson. "Batman and Robin. Together again for the first time." again by Dick Grayson and on their second outing together in this very issue (albiet the first visit to the Comissioner). It's weak and kept pulling me out of the book and made me want to watch Die Hard more than anything else.

The villain is suitably villainous though it's pretty certain that... Pyg... won't be joining Batman's rogue's gallery. Maybe he'll get a good run in before disappearing forever/ getting killed off. I guess we'll see.

The art. Quitely is hit or miss and, for me, it's mostly miss. There's some good work within but his faces continue to annoy the hell out of me. The new Robin is particularly Liefeldian in proportions. No seriously. It looks like Liefeld drew it but some of the crosshatching's been erased. Also: no one uses an iron in Gotham City. That is some seriously wrinkled clothes all around. You can add it to the wrinkled skin and... y'know, everything in this book is sort of wrinkled. Could also use an inker to add some line quality to his work. Everything is done with pretty much the same line width with only slight variation within. It looks sort of flat. It's one of the reasons why, precolor, these pages were just sort of blah. The work is saved by very nice coloring and good layouts (and because this is only my opinion and some people actually love this stuff).

The car is cool. The Bat-Suit is cool. Good layouts. Some nice design work. There? I can be positive.

All in all, I'm probably not going to enjoy this when it's in my collection. I should know that and not pick up the next issue and then continue not picking it up. I'm not a Batman fan. I'm not a Morrison fan. I'm certainly not a Quitely fan.

But this thing does call to me. Maybe it's because I'm a Nightwing fan. Maybe it's because the one thing Morrison can do better than anything else is hype. He can make me believe that this thing is gonna be worth it to the point where I don't want to look at it rationally. Maybe this time.

So, I'm in, I guess. We'll see if I can stay excited while waiting for the next issue.

Batman and Robin #1, you get a 7. See you in a few weeks, maybe.